Monday, January 5th, 2009

[JonPorobil]

The first Monday of the new year finds me still jobless.

A local community in which I'm active has recently taken a keen interest in Steve Pavlina and started following his blog. Though this isn't how he came to attention, it turns out that he's got several long rants about how getting a job is one of the worst things an intelligent person can do to himself. I myself am currently looking for work. In fact, I would absolutely love nothing more than for some company that makes a lot of money to offer me a paltry cut of it in exchange for performing menial tasks for them. And this blogger, who apparently gets millions of hits a month, says that employment is one of the worst things that could happen to me.

It's a little offensive to be told that when I don't know where my next month's rent will come from, but I cannot deny that not having a set-hour job has its benefits. For instance, I was able to be home when our building superintendent got here to fix our sink, which became severely backed-up last night. I was also able to go to our leasing office and pick up some packages that would otherwise have sat there until Saturday, because our leasing office's hours coincide with our own working hours.

Both of my parents have their own businesses, and in fact, my mother hasn't answered to a boss since I was born. So I'm thinking about giving up this job search and turning one of my hobbies into a full-out career. I'll talk about it more in another thread later if people seem interested, but this is all a lead-in to my question of the day, which is:

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What was your last major life-changing decision? How long did it take you to arrive at that decision? Knowing what you know now, would you have acted differently?

[Billy's Little Trip]

Today is the 5th, Genetic.

QOTD:
A. Last night. I drank WAY too much and I think I poisoned myself.
B. I arrived at the decision after a two drinks, then decided to have just one more before eating dinner. One more turned into 6 or 7 and I didn't eat until around 2:00am.
C. I wish I wouldn't have drank so much.

[JonPorobil]

Duly noted and edited.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I forgot to mention. The night before last I had a visit from Internets Ross Durand, in a dream. I was sitting on my couch watching TV with my laptop on my lap and I was nodding off........yes nodding, like falling asleep. Get your mind out of the gutter. Anyway, I feel someone sit on the couch, then nudge me and say, hey Billy, wake up. Then before I open my eyes I think, Hmm, no one calls me Billy. I wake up and Ross is smiling really big just like the king from the Burger King commercials! I was smiling back kind of confused and I said, Ross? How did you get in here? He said, the door was unlocked so I let myself in. That's all I remember. I know he was trying to tell me something, but I can't remember what it was.
Ross, do you remember what you were trying to tell me?

[jimtyrrell]

Roll Call: Back at the day job after a long vacation. It's not so bad. There wasn't a logjam of work waiting for me, which is kind of nice. I'm easing back into it. I'm starting to think about this year's batch of drinking songs. If you have any good drinking stories, send 'em along and maybe I can immortalize you in song.

QotD: I'm not ready to answer that one just yet.

[Reist]

qotd: Not going to australia for a year and a half. Two of my best friends are, and if I had decided to go with them, I'd be leaving today.

[Chadderandom]

The night before last I had a visit from Internets Ross Durand, in a dream.

I had a dream about a songfighter last night. Only I don't know which one. Usually, even if the person doesn't look like the person or you've never even seen the person, you know who it is, but I just had a random dream about someone that is a songfighter. Maybe since I didn't know who it was, that would mean it was me but, whoever it was, this random songfighter was naked. But innocently so. Which is strange, because he was playing hide and seek with his (fully clothed) 14 year old daughter, because she wanted to do a vlog, and he was running through a really big house with a video camera, hiding places and in one room his wife was reading a book and rolled her eyes at him like it was just another stupid thing he does and in another room there was a tiger and another room a cobra, neither of which attacked him.

Anyway, his daughter found him in the attic and he handed her the video camera and said "good, you caught me, now I can finally go record some music for the next fight" and gave himself a double thumbs up in the mirror as he walked away and then I woke up because WTF.

[signboy]

Generic, that's a fantastic website you linked to. I'm going to spent most of the day reading it.
qotd: I decided last year that I'm going to build a 48 foot catamaran, and sail the sucker. Not so much for the boat trip, but because if I do it, it means I put a LOT of money into it. And if I did that, then I learned how to make a lot of money. The big point is that I will never afford this trip with my paycheque money, so I need to be better than that. As Steve Pavlina just told me.

[slats]

QotD: I quit drinking over four years ago. The decision probably took all of the time since the previous time I quit quitting drinking, which would put it at about 13 years. Or maybe a decision had been made and it was just the implementation of the decision that took the time - the nature of the issue leaves the whole decision making process a little murky. Would I've done anything differently? Maybe do it sooner? Maybe. But the timing seems to've been good if only because it seems to've stuck. Sobering up sooner probably would've gotten me divorced sooner -which really would've been a plus- but all in all, I'm pretty happy with the way it worked out. No regrets.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I had a dream about a songfighter last night. Only I don't know which one. Usually, even if the person doesn't look like the person or you've never even seen the person, you know who it is, but I just had a random dream about someone that is a songfighter. Maybe since I didn't know who it was, that would mean it was me but, whoever it was, this random songfighter was naked. But innocently so. Which is strange, because he was playing hide and seek with his (fully clothed) 14 year old daughter, because she wanted to do a vlog, and he was running through a really big house with a video camera, hiding places and in one room his wife was reading a book and rolled her eyes at him like it was just another stupid thing he does and in another room there was a tiger and another room a cobra, neither of which attacked him.

Anyway, his daughter found him in the attic and he handed her the video camera and said "good, you caught me, now I can finally go record some music for the next fight" and gave himself a double thumbs up in the mirror as he walked away and then I woke up because WTF.

I think your dream is trying to tell you that you like to flash teenage girls. The teen girl is really a 27 year old midget. The wife is the tv viewer. The tiger is dateline, and cobra is TV's Chris Hansen. Am I spot on, or what? I think you should go talk with tv's Dr. Phil.

[Paco Del Stinko]

I think you should go punch tv's Dr. Phil.

Fixed for ya. You're welcome.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Thank you, Chaz.

[mrbeany]

QotD: (a) My last major life-changing decision was to go back to the computer industry. I worked in the computer industry for a time, but got quite burned out shortly after the stock market bubble burst and an 800 lb gorilla of a company sat on the 12 lb kitty-cat of a company I was working for. (b) I was thinking of doing something totally different -- like social work different -- so I could just play with computers in my spare time for fun. Eventually I came to my senses, but it took a couple of years and some credits at a community college before I changed my mind. Social work frequently involves some paperwork, and how am I supposed to do that if my arms are torn off and my eyes ripped out? (I'm suddenly reminded of R. Mosquito's "Sarah Vowel's Motto".) It just wasn't a good fit for when I get disabled. I needed a backup plan. Plus I hear they have to work a lot. (c) That was a few years back. At this point I've basically landed my dream job with my dream company. The pay isn't great, but I get loads of PTO, and it is very low stress. It was definitely one of my better decisions.

In the future, perhaps I'll say that my most recent life-changing decision was to join SongFight and start writing songs. It took me almost 9 months to actually decide to start exploring music creatively. ... assuming I can make something better than my last entry I don't think I'll regret it... It feels like a bit of a learning curve right now.

[jimtyrrell]

Keep at it, Mr. Beany!

[Caravan Ray]

whoever it was, this random songfighter was naked. .

That explains why I woke up tired on Tuesday

[HeuristicsInc]

I worked in the computer industry for a time... I was thinking of doing something totally different -- like social work different

That's funny, my wife's brother did that exact thing. Computer stuff to social work. It seems to be sticking in his case, though... I am amazed that somebody else did also, it seems so random.
-bill

[fluffy]

It seems that every single job offer I've taken since 2004 has been some sort of life-changing event, inasmuch as the last three of them have each involved moving a significant distance and having to recreate my social life from scratch, which is not easy for me.

generic: Most of my friends are freelancers and keep on telling me how awesome freelancing is since they can work whatever hours they want and take whichever projects they're interested in. But I dunno, I need structure in my life to get things done, and I have rather a lot of flexibility at my job anyway, so okay I have to get my packages delivered to my work address and bring them home, so what? I'd go crazy and get nothing done if it weren't for being forced to get out of the house on some sort of schedule.

[roymond]

I'm with fluffy. I need the structure too. I do a lot of my work alone, but the team work is where it really happens, even if it's remote or "virtual".

I'll be making some changes soon, but not that huge. Last time was in 2000 when I had a new mortgage, a new born son, and quit my job without another lined up. Got a job two months later, which I've had now for 9 years.

My wife just finished her masters and started a new job yesterday as a speech pathologist at a public high school. This after 20 years as a book and graphic designer.

I think it's good to make big changes now and then and jump off that cliff. I'm justs not good at it.

[Caravan Ray]

At the beginning of 2008 we decided to sell our house, pack up everything and move to New Zealand. It took about 5 minutes to arrive at a decision, once all of the relevant “knowable” information had been collated.

Knowing what I know now, would I have acted differently? Of course I would have. I would have more information to inform decisions. That is not to say we would not have moved to NZ – we would still have (or maybe not – if we knew what we knew now – well, we would probably go somewhere else, because we would already know what it is like to live in NZ – the place is irrelevant, it is going somewhere new that is fun.).

One thing we might have done differently is we might have tried to sell our house 2 months earlier (in hindsight of the global credit crunch that was coming, but we didn’t know that then). We would have got a really high price and had heaps of money to invest. What happened however was – we waited, the market dropped and we didn’t sell our house at all. The result – I still own a valuable house that is earning me heaps of rent and the interest rate I pay on the loan has plummeted. Happy days! If I had have sold – I would have invested the profit and probably lost a large chunk of it when the stockmarket crashed. It is all swings and roundabouts. Not worth dwelling on.

The moral here is – trying to think of what you would have done differently is dumb. Don’t do it. Just do what you do and work with what you have got. If you don’t like it – do something else.

But moving to NZ was just another in a long line of “life-changing decisions”. Following on from – quitting our jobs to spend 2 years doing volunteer aid work on a tiny atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (1995), trying to farm alpacas (1999), selling the farm and moving to an outback mining town (2001), leaving the bush and moving to inner-city Brisbane (2003) etc – with the other equally life-changing stuff like getting married, buying houses, having a baby etc. thrown in there as well. Even jumping on a plane in 2006 to fly halfway around the world for a weekend just to go to a Songfight show was “life changing” in its own little way.

The whole point here is – it really doesn’t matter what “life-changing decisions” you make. Your life is going to keep changing of its own accord anyway. Just get on with it and stop being so melodramatic.

I guess if I can offer any advice from my own experience – it is if you find yourself just spinning your wheels at home, do what I did and go volunteer for an overseas aid project. Ideally I would recommend avoiding the Peace Corp - find an international organisation if possible (the Peace Cops tend to be too insular. Everybody just laughs at them)

[drë]

Someone quick, Laminate this post!

At the beginning of 2008 we decided to sell our house, pack up everything and move to New Zealand. It took about 5 minutes to arrive at a decision, once all of the relevant “knowable” information had been collated.

Knowing what I know now, would I have acted differently? Of course I would have. I would have more information to inform decisions. That is not to say we would not have moved to NZ – we would still have (or maybe not – if we knew what we knew now – well, we would probably go somewhere else, because we would already know what it is like to live in NZ – the place is irrelevant, it is going somewhere new that is fun.).

One thing we might have done differently is we might have tried to sell our house 2 months earlier (in hindsight of the global credit crunch that was coming, but we didn’t know that then). We would have got a really high price and had heaps of money to invest. What happened however was – we waited, the market dropped and we didn’t sell our house at all. The result – I still own a valuable house that is earning me heaps of rent and the interest rate I pay on the loan has plummeted. Happy days! If I had have sold – I would have invested the profit and probably lost a large chunk of it when the stockmarket crashed. It is all swings and roundabouts. Not worth dwelling on.

The moral here is – trying to think of what you would have done differently is dumb. Don’t do it. Just do what you do and work with what you have got. If you don’t like it – do something else.

But moving to NZ was just another in a long line of “life-changing decisions”. Following on from – quitting our jobs to spend 2 years doing volunteer aid work on a tiny atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (1995), trying to farm alpacas (1999), selling the farm and moving to an outback mining town (2001), leaving the bush and moving to inner-city Brisbane (2003) etc – with the other equally life-changing stuff like getting married, buying houses, having a baby etc. thrown in there as well. Even jumping on a plane in 2006 to fly halfway around the world for a weekend just to go to a Songfight show was “life changing” in its own little way.

The whole point here is – it really doesn’t matter what “life-changing decisions” you make. Your life is going to keep changing of its own accord anyway. Just get on with it and stop being so melodramatic.

I guess if I can offer any advice from my own experience – it is if you find yourself just spinning your wheels at home, do what I did and go volunteer for an overseas aid project. Ideally I would recommend avoiding the Peace Corp - find an international organisation if possible (the Peace Cops tend to be too insular. Everybody just laughs at them)

[Ross]

I forgot to mention. The night before last I had a visit from Internets Ross Durand, in a dream. I was sitting on my couch watching TV with my laptop on my lap and I was nodding off........yes nodding, like falling asleep. Get your mind out of the gutter. Anyway, I feel someone sit on the couch, then nudge me and say, hey Billy, wake up. Then before I open my eyes I think, Hmm, no one calls me Billy. I wake up and Ross is smiling really big just like the king from the Burger King commercials! I was smiling back kind of confused and I said, Ross? How did you get in here? He said, the door was unlocked so I let myself in. That's all I remember. I know he was trying to tell me something, but I can't remember what it was.
Ross, do you remember what you were trying to tell me?

Crap - it was really important, too! But then I woke up. I think maybe I solved the mid-east peace problem, but when I woke up all that was written on the pad next to my bed was "sauteed mushrooms." Does that mean anything to you?

[mrbeany]

I worked in the computer industry for a time... I was thinking of doing something totally different -- like social work different

That's funny, my wife's brother did that exact thing. Computer stuff to social work. It seems to be sticking in his case, though... I am amazed that somebody else did also, it seems so random.
-bill

I wouldn't say random. I would say polar opposites.

Computer job - Social Work
technology centered - people centered
highly paid - poorly paid
a lot of men in the industry - a lot of women in the industry
high stress, and everyone demands higher output - high stress, and everyone is supportive
marketing department sells to people despite needs - the product is getting people to the services they need
math skills very highly required - few are really inclined to like or do well in math (*)

If you want to get away from the computer industry, there really isn't a place much further away from it than social work.

(*) I only said that last one because an instructor specifically pointed out that most people in the field aren't that good with math. This wasn't something I personally made up, and it was also backed up by the number of my classmates taking "refresher" math courses.